In the field of logistics, packaged products are most commonly carried and transported on pallets. It is sometimes necessary to prevent the movement of one or more pallets of product from a warehouse, or to ensure that those pallets are retained in the warehouse for a predetermined period of time before proceeding down the distribution chain to a wholesaler, retailer or the like. Currently, this is often achieved by transporting the pallets of product to a secure caged and/or locked area. However, for some heavier bulkier products, this is impractical. For example, in the case of beer, it is often a requirement that after bottling, the beer be allowed to rest for a predetermined period of time before being despatched to retailers or wholesalers. Because of the volumes of beer involved, it is simply impractical to hold the pallets in a secure area.
Other situations where quarantining pallets is desirable occur where product is manufactured and packaged for a particular promotion where it may be desirable to clear a warehouse of non promotional stock before any of the promotional material is despatched. Other situations where quarantining pallets is desirable, include when palletised product is held for being out of quality specification and unable to be released for sale.
The present invention is concerned with an improved method and apparatus for arresting the movement of pallets and which is particularly suited to use in situations where a large number of pallets have to be quarantined and where moving the pallets to a caged area is impractical, or too time-consuming, or too expensive.
Any discussion of documents, acts, materials, devices, articles or the like which has been included in the present specification is solely for the purpose of providing a context for the present invention. It is not to be taken as an admission that any or all of these matters form part of the prior art base or were common general knowledge in the field relevant to the present invention as it existed before the priority date of each claim of this application.